The IBF’s mandate to pit IBF welterweight champion Jaron Ennis and IBF mandatory challenger Cody Crowley will apparently go through, with the sanctioning body having ordered purse bid proceedings to occur on April 23. However, prior to this report, the IBF’s order was threatened to be dissolved by the WBC’s own purse bid proceedings as they sought to stage an eliminator match between Cody Crowley and Souleymane Cissokho at 147 lbs.
More than a week ago, it seemed almost certain that Canadian welterweight Cody Crowley (22-0, 9 KOs) would go on to fight French contender Souleymane Cissokho (17-0, 9 KOs) in a WBC 147 lbs eliminator to decide the WBC welterweight mandatory challenger after Cissokho’s promoter, All Star Boxing, had won the purse bid that occurred on April 9. According to the general rules of a purse bid, it would then fall to All Star Boxing to arrange the date and venue, which what was Crowley was supposedly waiting for.
However, it now appears Cody Crowley may be going down the IBF route instead after the sanctioning body signaled for a new purse bid to be arranged on April 23 where Crowley will be represented by PBC-affiliate TGB Promotions, while Ennis will be backed by Matchroom who he signed with recently.
The decision now seems up to Crowley’s team who must choose between fighting to become a mandatory challenger when it comes to the WBC, or acknowledge Crowley’s status as IBF mandatory challenger to directly face IBF welterweight champion Jaron Ennis (31-0, 28 KO’s).
Cody Crowley’s current designation as the IBF mandatory challenger is a remarkable drift from the IBF’s own rules who had already ordered the Canadian to face British welterweight Ekow Essuman (19-1, 7 KO’s) in an eliminator bout last year, only for Crowley to withdraw from the purse bid held in September for reasons still unclear. The move should have disqualified Crowley for another world title opportunity according to their own rules, but evidently the IBF has not been consistent on this matter.
As the IBF’s own rules explain, when two fighters are ordered to fight each other―whether it’s an eliminator bout or a world title bout, whichever fighter refuses to participate in a mandate will face steep consequences; including being dropped from the IBF rankings which should have prevented Crowley from being ordered to either fight for a world title, or fight to become a mandatory challenger.
Remarkably, Cody Crowley has managed to somehow completely bypass any consequences from the IBF, and actually became the IBF mandatory challenger earlier this year when the sanctioning body ordered him and Ennis to face each other by March 28.
The apparent March 28th deadline for the fight has also been cancelled given the recent new order by the IBF for purse bid proceedings to occur on April 23, thereby granting Cody Crowley another opportunity to fight for a world title. The purse bid proceedings itself will be an interesting affair, with Ennis now backed by a promotional behemoth in Matchroom which might see Jaron Ennis defending his IBF title in potential headlining pay-per-view debut on DAZN.
